‘Eid Mobile’ presents Muslim feast as mainstream

When it comes to holidays and feasting, the majority of minds will think of the engorging festivals of Thanksgiving or Christmas. Very few would think of the Islamic feast of Eid-Al-Fitr. A group of young Muslims in Houston is trying to change that.

To celebrate Eid-Al-Fitr, the festival held at the conclusion of the Muslim month of fasting known as Ramadan, and educate the general public about the holiday, two young Muslim groups are launching an initiative called “Eid Mobile.”

“Individuals from Rad Talks and Crescent Youth are encouraging the Muslim community to use glass chalk to paint ‘Happy Eid’ on their car windows during Eid,” said Hasan Gilani, who founded Rad Talks two years ago and is working with an internationally known Houston-based group known as Crescent Youth.

“The hope is that people will become aware of the celebration and their curiosity will lead them to visit a website we created about the Eid celebration that we will also have written on our cars,” he said.

This creative project is part of a wider mainstreaming of Eid as a hallmark Islamic, and American, holiday recognized more and more by people outside of Islam.

Eid-Al-Fitr, often abbreviated to Eid, is a festive Muslim holiday that celebrates the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting (sawm). Literally, it refers to the “festivity of breaking the fast.” It commemorates the conclusion of the 29 or 30 days of dawn-to-sunset fasting during the entire month of Ramadan. Eid begins the evening of August 18 and continues until sunset on Sunday August 19. This Eid is not to be confused with Eid-Al-Adha, which occurs at the end of the pilgrimage (hajj).

“On Eid, the Muslim community gathers to reaffirm their monotheistic belief through a special prayer,” said Gilani, “but the feasting and fasting are important parts of our celebration.”

This, he said, unites this celebration with other familiar faith traditions of fasting and feasting from Christian, Jewish and other religious sources.

He said, “Eid shows that Muslims are not aliens, it can be a great unifying force that brings various faiths together under the banner of camaraderie and cooperation.”

Since President Bill Clinton and his wife, current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, hosted the first Eid feast at the White House in 1996, Eid has garnered national attention and a fair degree of familiarity in the United States of America.

“Eid-Al-Fitr is the most approachable Muslim holiday,” said Hasan Asma. Asma added that of all the Muslim holidays it has the most chance of becoming a nationally recognized holiday, if not a federal public holiday.

“Many Muslim Americans would consider the adoption of Eid as a national holiday as an efficient way of gaining ‘symbolic recognition’ of Islam in American society,” he said.

Gilani said that growing up in the United States he would often see commercials tied into other religious holidays such as Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, but never Islamic holidays like Eid.

“There are millions of American Muslims, but we were overlooked,” he said, “now that’s starting to change.”

Now, businesses such as IKEA and Best Buy are mentioning Muslim holidays in their advertisements and an increasing number of public officials, including Houston’s Mayor Annise Parker, and religious leaders from other faiths are issuing Eid statements, hosting Eid events and sending greetings of “Eid Mubarak!” when the festival comes along each year.

“We want to help this trend by sharing Eid with Houston to show everyone that there are lots of Muslims here and the vast majority of us are not dangerous.”

He said that if individuals took time to understand and appreciate Eid, and its celebration of faith and compassion, there would be more understanding of Islam in general.

All week long, Gilani and his young Muslim friends will proudly display Eid decorations on their cars (making them “Eid-mobiles”) in hopes that passers-by might take the time to learn more about the progressively popular, and potentially peace promoting, Islamic feast of Eid. In the process, they hope more people will come to appreciate Islam as part of the fabric of the United States.

Gilani said, “projects like ‘Eid Mobile,’ using humor and popular media, help convey the truth about Muslims as positive, contributing members of American society.”

Ken I will again thank you for this post, I started by thanking and I will end with it.
This post showed a lot of tolerance, unlike some of the posts I read.
It is sad when people confuse cultural habits with Islam. Everything that goes on in Islamic countries is not necessarily Islam. Similar examples can be found in other religions as well. Do all Christian countries live strictly by the bible? or do all people in a Jewish state live by the Torah? Each of these countries have a culture which gets mixed in and people think that this must part of their religion – wrong assumption.
Btw a couple of Methodist ministers had joined in fasting for the whole month as Muslims fast – abstention from all food and drink from sunrise to sunset, a 16 hour fast for 30 days. They had a great experience and have posted their daily experience on their blog. It is an interesting read. You may have seen it.
Regards

My husband and I along with our 15 year old son currently reside in the Middle East. We have lived in Qatar and the UAE. We live everyday saturated with Islam. Most Americans have no idea what Islam involves and I would say that 99% have no concept of living under Sharia law.

My experience has taught me that people who have grown up under Islam here in the free USA also have no concept of how the Muslims in Arabic countries follow their religion. Sharia law and democracy cannot exist in harmony, they are diametrically opposed.

I fully support teaching Islam in our free culture. But, give all the facts. Everything from what is demanded of the women within the culture to how inheritance is divided when the head male in the family passes. The fact that woman must share their husband and his income with up to three other wives whether they want this or not. The fact that woman are in no way considered equals within the society. The men are sexually free and the women are repressed to the point that adult toys such as dildos are banned and sold as black market. Hormone replacement therapy such as estrogen is restricted to take into the United Arab Emirates but testosterone is welcome. It is a man’s right to hit his wife and children as long as he does not leave a mark.

And, to add insult to injury, if a woman is divorced from her husband she leaves with nothing. There is no splitting of the wealth, therefore the idea of a prenup is foreign to them. The children also belong to the husband.

In the UAE these young Arabs would be fined for the same thing they are free to do here in this country (marking on their windshields). Unless of course they got permission from the ministry dept of the government that handles those types of things. But that would never happen because it requires reams of paperwork and months to years of time.

Islam and sharia law are an oppressive state to live under and I resent the shiny side of it being brought to the forefront while the disgustingly ugly pieces stay hidden. I would wonder how many of these young Arab women have actually lived their religion outside of the protection that the United States offers.

I suggest the author Nonie Darwish who is an Egyptian woman born and raised within the islamic culture to be required reading in our high schools across this country so that people who were born free can make an intelligent decision regarding the state of Islam.

It’s important to understand Qatar and the UAE are not Islamic states. They are countries run by Muslims just like Germany is run by Christians. Would you say Germany and its bloody history represents Christianity? The Lord’s Resistance Army is using child soldiers to kill people in the name of Christianity. Does that mean Christianity is a murderous religion?

No Muslim country in the world is implementing mainstream Islamic law in totality and, therefore, their policies cannot be used to condemn the religion of Islam. In fact, many religious Muslims are wary of living in those countries because they do not adhere to Islamic ideals, laws, and customs. Instead, cultural norms contrary to Islam (sometimes justified by twisting scripture) often reign supreme, such as male chauvinism, honor killings, oppression of minorities, etc. Remember, the Bible too has been used to justify slavery, racism, male chauvinism and countless other evils.

The freedom and equality Islamic law grants people is in many ways similar to what we experience in the US, which is why Muslims properly educated about Islam love to live in the US. It’s the closest thing to Islamic freedom we have found and we are proud to contribute positively to this nation.

I am am Christian American citizen and a Texan. Last year I moved to Abu Dhabi which is in the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E) smack dab in the Middle East for a job. I had people in my life that love and care for me make all kinds of comments before I left. I am one that marches to her beat so I didn’t allow those comments to dictate my goals.

Let me tell you that Abu Dhabi is the most religious tolerant country. It is an Islamic country, but there are many Christian churches to attend as well as Hindu temples for the Hindu population, etc. I feel safer there than I do in my own city (Houston, TX) and I have all the rights as a woman there that I have in the U.S. I drive my own car. I wear what I want (keeping respect to the culture of course) and I can go anywhere I want without a male escort.

I just wanted to say thank you for writing such a positive article on the Eid holiday. There are Muslisms all over the world that do not hate and do not stand for what a “small” percentage of those purveyors of hatred that call themselves Muslim do.

Since I have lived in Abu Dhabi I have met the kindest, most wonderful people who happen to be Muslim from all over the world: Jordan, Egypt, Turkey and they would be welcome in my home any day.

Americans have a lot to learn and the American media is completely one-sided. It is my prayer that all nations and people abandon hatred of all kinds and learn to embrace the differences we have as a “human” race.

Wonderful article. It’s always comforting to know our society is open minded enough to learn about faiths and practices that are different than ours. It seems that it is the Muslimyouth who are propelling the “Eid-Mobile” effort and I’m happy to see that they are investing their time in promoting a forum for understanding and awareness.

Not only have American Muslims become an important asset to our society/economy, many holding high ranking positions such as physicians, lawyers, etc, but they have also inevitably become interwoven into the American fabric. It’s high time we recognized and acknowledged their religious holidays and the meanings behind them.

[...] the world a happy and …Eid Al-Fitr 2012: A Celebration At The End Of RamadanHuffington Post'Eid Mobile' presents Muslim feast as mainstreamHouston Chronicle (blog)Dubai is getting ready for Eid Al Fitrgulfnews.comSaudi Gazetteall 143 news [...]

More love-the-muslims nonsense. All the followers of the pedophile prophet want the infidels dead but so many fools turn a blind eye to the people who would slaughter them in the name of allah. Maybe a good story about how no muslim anywhere ever truly stands and speaks against the barbarism of islam. (I know,that will get a discussion of the crusades of 1000 years ago, while I am discussing the barbarity of islam in the world today.)

Thank you for reading the piece and for responding. I do want to let you know that during the course of this interview one of the Muslims I interviewed had this to say about those individuals who engage in terrorism against the USA, other nations or their own brothers and sisters of the faith, “Understandably, people do not trust our community due to the actions of a few confused, hatemongering Muslims, but the vast majority of us are trying to be good American citizens.”

In other interviews I’ve heard Muslims speak out against terrorism, and for that matter, terrorism of any kind including the shootings at the Sikh mosque, the Ft. Hood massacre, the Aurora shooting or various acts of terror aimed at Muslims in the United States including several reason arson attempts on mosques.

I hope your understanding of Islam can grow too. You are taking a nominal Muslim’s (non-True Believer) word at face value. You are taking CAIR’s (an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation lawsuit and an organization that has had multiple leaders convicted of crimes) word at face value.

“Gilani said, “projects like ‘Eid Mobile,’ using humor and popular media, help convey the truth about Muslims as positive, contributing members of American society.””

“The truth about Muslims” is a deliberate choice of words by Gilani. There is, many times, a “truth” deficit when Muslims state it, but you don’t recognize it because you obviously haven’t studied “official” Islam or a majority sampling of Muslims in the real world, in practice. This article was written in a just-the-facts style, nothing was questioned and everything accepted at face value, this is what “X’ says and this is what “Y” says, and you, the reporter, without even a modicum of understanding of the basics, pretend to bear no responsibility in the conveyance of Gilani’s “truth” to your readers. If you want to be a reporter act like one. Dig the dirt on Islam, do a little research on CAIR, question Gilani about the “Muslim as positive” statement. CAIR is a notorious Islamic agitator and proven bad actor, and it is easily demonstrable why Muslims are not perceived as positive.

“Understandably, people do not trust our community due to the actions of a few confused, hatemongering Muslims, but the vast majority of us are trying to be good American citizens.”

Again, we have a deficit of truth. A “few confused” is not a few at all, it is millions, and confused is inaccurate as well. Those “few” know full well what the Qur’an says, and they, as True Believers, are hatemongering because that is what their religion requires of them. There is verse after verse of hatemongering in the Qur’an. You can ignore it and Gilani can deny it all day long but that does not mean it is not true or that Muslims do not take it to heart.

“In other interviews I’ve heard Muslims speak out against terrorism.”

So have I, many times. Even here on the Chron blogs, Ruth of ‘Straight Path,’ denounces terrorism vehemently. She even rejects sharia, as if that were possible for a Muslim. Here again there is a deficit of truth. Those who denounce terrorism are powerless to stop it because they know the sacred texts do not support their point of view. Here in the States, where Muslims can say, freely, they do not support sharia, or terrorism, or hatred of Jews and Christians, they cannot say terrorism is not representative of Islam because it is not true. Muhammad himself said, “I have been made victorious with terror.”

By a deficit of truth you are being used and your naïve proselytizing is, in my opinion, misplaced goodwill at best, and as a Christian, downright shameful considering the ongoing widespread Muslim persecution of Christians today. But then I don’t have a degree in theology and culture either, so, what do I know?

Thanks Ken for sharing this story, and if I may say ‘Happy Eid’ to you and your readers in advance. We are not there yet. It may be on Saturday or Sunday depending when the new moon is sighted, majority think it will be Sunday.
Last night was a big night for the Muslims (depending where you were on earth), most were up all night praying, supplicating, asking the Almighty’s help to fulfill their needs and above all asking forgiveness.
This night is important because Quran, the holy book of Muslims was revealed on this blessed night, from the seventh heaven to the first heaven, then it came in increments as the situation arose over the prophetic mission – 23 years, culminating in a verse from the Creator that now He has completed His message.
So this night all Muslims are encouraged to stay up all night and offer their thanks to the Creator.
Regards